How to Purchase a Projector

Now a day’s in the digital market, there are multiple vendors manufacturing Projector for Offices, Educational and Domestic usage. These days in market many vendors manufactured projectors are available, all having the best features than other one. So for consumers it has become a difficult task to select the perfect projector for their use.
The major application of projector is in companies, education and for home use. Companies use projectors for their meeting for giving information to their staff. Educational usage of projector is for giving information to students in seminars and now even lectures are delivered in classes on projectors. So, educational institutions have become a big market for the usage of projector. In home, projectors are being use for watching videos and displaying images on screen or on flat surfaces.

If you are planning for purchasing projector for your use, then you must have a deep knowledge about projectors types and required specifications.

Types of Projectors

Three types of projectors are available in market.

LCD Projector

DLP Projector

CRT Projector

LCD Projector

LCD projector is a type of video projectors used for projecting videos, images and computer data on either projection screens or on surfaces. In these projectors, metal-halide lamp is used. Metal-hide lamp is used in these projectors as they output high contrast color image. These lamps have the ability of projecting high light in small area as they have 2000 to 15000 lumens. They have the ability of projection on any small surface, best surface of projection is grey, blank white or black surface. LCD projectors offer best contrast ratio and resolution for user. Now a day’s LED projectors are also being manufactured.

DLP Projector

In DLP projector digital micromirror device is used for projection. The major use of DLP projectors is in Cinemas. About 85% of cinemas use DLP projectors for projection. DLP projectors are able to process 7 different colors at the same time. 3D projection is also possible on DLP projectors. Laser DLP projectors eliminate need of lamp replacement.

CTR Projector

CTR projector is also a video projector in which cathode ray tube is used for projection element. CTR is the oldest technology being used in projectors, these projectors are now replaced by DLP and LCD projectors. CTR projectors have good brightness life up to 10000 hours. They don’t show rainbow effect in projection which is shown in DLP projectors. They have the very fast response time which reduces blur in projecting fast videos. Major disadvantage of CRT is that they require more electric power that DLP and LCD projectors.

This was just short overview of projector types, another major thing to consider while purchasing projector is their specifications.

Lamp of Projector

Lamp is the element used in projectors for projection of videos or images. Like in the LCD projectors, metal-halide lamp is used. The lamps consist of small fused quartz or ceramic arc tubes having gases and the arc, enclosed in another glass bulb which output ultraviolet light. While purchasing projector must check out the lamp life of projector. Choose projector with greater lamp life. As lamps need to be replaced after specific time of usage.

Brightness

Brightness is another major feature of projector to be considered for purchasing the best projector for your use. Brightness of projectors is measured in lumens. According to a survey, 75% of projector buying customers focus on better brightness of projector. Many of vendors of projectors only mention the white color brightness of projector but not the color brightness. Vibrant color is most important in brightness, as 85% of data projected on projectors is color. So, in the selection of projector brightness should be higher of projector. Normally projectors with 2000 to 15000 lumens are available in market. HD projectors come with the maximum brightness.

Brightness comparison of Projector

Resolution of Projector

If you are searching for projector to buy, normally you will find two types to resolutions in projectors specification Native and Maximum. Any projector if it use micro displays, either it is LCD, DLP or CTR, they have fix line of pixels I them. This fix number of pixels is known as Native Resolution. So, native resolution is the actual resolution of projector that matters and should be considered.

Maximum resolution has no effect on the physical display of projector. But it has the effect on with the signals coming from the computer. The greater number of maximum resolution tells us that at what speed signals will be processed in projector. It just tells the processing speed.

Noise level of Projector

Projectors get hot due to continuous usage, just like the computers. Brighter projector get hot soon. Normally projectors produce noise of up to 24db but brighter projectors can produce noise of up to 50 db. So projector should be selected which produces less noise.

Terminals of Projector

Projector having most of connecting terminals should be preferred, as they will be consisting most of features. Now a days, projectors with built-in Wi-Fi are being manufactured. While in old projector models LAN RJ-45 port was designed for connecting to Network. HDMI and VGA ports are designed for connecting with computer. HDMI port is preferred for transferring video signals to projector. USB ports are also available in projectors for accessing data directly from USB as storage media.

Projector Interfaces

Cost of Projector

Projector is a product of higher cost to buy. Normally, projectors are available in marker at price more than $300. So, projector with most of features and economical price will be preference for any customer to buy projector.

Power Consumption of Projector

Old projectors of CRT technology used to draw more electric power while latest DLP and LCD projectors draw less electric power and contain more features than CTR projectors.

This was a general description about projectors focusing features to consider while purchasing new projector for your use. I hope this will help you to purchase a projector.

Shoaib Iqbal is an Electrical Engineer and Cisco Certified. He has over 1 year experience as Technical Writer. His writing work includes installation manuals and configuration guides of networking products and overviews of backup tapes.